Chapter 3: Volume 1 - CH 2

Swordsman of the Cursed Sword

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by SoundDestiny

Five years have passed since Raidorl was exiled from Royal Capital.

“Fireeeee!”

In the pioneer city of Raid, in the south of the Kingdom of Zain, angry shouts and roaring sounds echoed through the air and shook the air.

A man standing on the ramparts raises his thick voice, and a volley of arrows rains down on the enemy’s heads like rain.

“Goaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Arrows pierced its entire body and the two-legged boar screamed.

To the south of the pioneer city, a massive defence wall built of bricks and timber has been constructed to prevent demons from attacking. The demons with human and boar faces were approaching to climb over the wall.

Orcs are beast-like demons that live widely across the continent. It was a mutant species, the 『Catastro Orc』. It has reddish-black body that is more than one size larger than normal orcs, and their arm strength is several times greater.

Dozens of them are pouring into the frontier cities. If it were a small town, it would be a disaster on a scale that would destroy it in a single night.

“Chi……, they’re still coming!”

A middle-aged man in command on top of the defensive wall clicks his tongue.

The man’s name is Zafis Bartolomeo, a large man with a bear-like physique. He is the central figure of the Adventurers, a force that protects the pioneer city, and is a brave warrior who has fought many battles against demons in his career.

Wearing a suit of armour made from the skin of a beast, Zafis looks down from the defensive wall, his face contorted in a crude, almost outlaw-like expression. Despite the large number of arrows fired at them, the catastro-orcs have not lost momentum and are still breaking down the wooden fences that have been set up outside.

“Fire!　Keep shooting! Bastards, don’t hold back!”

“「「「「「Ooooo!!」」」」」”

As Zafis raised his voice, adventurers with bows fired arrows one after another.

A mere bow and arrow cannot be fatal to the thickly muscled catastro-orc. However, each bow and arrow is coated with demon venom, it should be effective against them, since they have a strong and tough life force.

It has already been a whole day since the catastro-orc appeared, and despite the constant shooting of arrows, their momentum is still not weakening.

At this rate, they will destroy the fence and reach the defence wall. An empty moat has been dug outside the barrier, but their physical strength should easily overcome it and break through the barrier.

“We’re going to be in trouble if we don’t do something about this….”

Zafis growled bitterly.

Zafis Bartolomeo was originally an adventurer in an empire in the middle of the continent, and was a great man who had even teamed up with his friends to slay a dragon.

But even for Zafis, the swathe of calamity that loomed before him was one of the greatest dangers in his adventurer’s lifetime.

“We’ve got to get the women and children out before they reach the defences. Get ready to evacuate!””

“G-uildmaster. But that’s……”

One of the adventurers’ face twist in frustration at the declaration of defeat to abandon the frontier city.

The adventurers who had gathered in the frontier city were all drifters who, for one reason or another, had lost their place in their homeland. For them, this town was their last place of residence, a place they would call their second home. Declaring that they would abandon it would not be easy to accept.

Zafis, knowing the adventurer’s inner thoughts, smiles wryly.

“Of course, I’ll stay here until the end!　This is my graveyard!”

“I’m with you! Oyabun!”

“I ain’t your boss.. Call me the Guildmaster!”

Zafis picks up a throwing spear javelin and throws it as hard as he can. The spear, which shot out like a cannonball, pierced the abdomen of one of the catastro-orc and succeeded in bringing it to its knees.

“Come on you bastards!　This is hell!　Fight to the last drop of blood, fight to the last……”

“Guildmaster!”

“Stay on your feet—…… What, at a time like this!”

Zafis’s interjections were interrupted midway by a young adventurer who was guiding the evacuating residents.

The appearance of the young man, who had ordered the women and children to flee with him in case of emergency, caused a crease to appear between Zafis’ eyebrows.

“Jean!　You, why did you come back!　I told you to run!”

“The Lord has returned!　He’s on his way here now!”

“Oh, really?”

Zafis’ eyes light up when he hears the word ‘lord’.

The adventurers around him are also shouting with joy in their mouths, and the mysterious air of determination to die that they had just experienced is blown away.

“Haha, He’s late! Quite the royalty, indeed!　He’s been so generous with me!”

“My bad. I’m a slow, pompous royal!”

“Ooou??!”

A shadow like a gale ran past the swearing Zafis.

Even Zafis, a skilled adventurer, can barely follow it with his eyes. He peels his eyes away and looks back behind him.

Ahead of him, a young man dressed in black stood on a scaffold of stones piled up on the ramparts.

“You kept me waiting!　I’m amazed you’ve kept me this long!”

Silver-haired and red-eyed. The black-robed young man draws the sword at his waist and points it towards the heavens.

The adventurers with their bows at the ready, and even the catastro-orc who were approaching the defence wall, cower in fear at the sight of his commanding presence.

“My Lord……”

“Aaa…… you came!”

“Our lord! Our great master!”

“Of course I would come!　How could I, the lord of this town, not show up at the town’s peril!”

The young man with his sword raised to the heavens smiles belligerently, his lips pursing into a smile in response to the accolade of hope that has gathered around him.

He then – with a swing of his sword – pointed the tip of his sword out of the barrier.

“Don’t think you can go home for free after attacking a town ruled by this Raidorl Zain!　I’m going to slash and dice every last one of them, flay them, skin and flesh, and leave them for my wallet!”

With an arrogant and confident statement, the black-robed young man, Raydor Zain, leapt from the barrier.

His heroic and muscular figure shows not a trace of the weakness he showed when he was banished from Royal Capital five years ago.

He leapt at the enemy with a face that was as fearless as if to say [I am the hero].

“Bufuo?”

The Catastro-Orc rolled his eyes when he saw Raidorl suddenly jump down from the defence wall.

Why did he bother to come down himself? Was this human here to be killed?　Such confusion is clearly visible on the orc’s face.

Looking up from below at the face of the stick-faced demon, Raidorl snorts in mockery.

“Ha! Don’t be stupid!”

“Buhiiiiiiiii!”

Raidorl swings his sword sideways.

The sword easily sliced through the thick muscles of the catastro-orc, and blood and viscera gushed out from its massive abdomen.

“Fugiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

Seeing his comrade’s guts strewn about, a catastro-orc that is near to Raidorl became enraged. He swung a large log as a weapon and tried to smash it into the head of the person in front of him.

“Hmph!”

The log struck the ground with a rock-shattering roar. The ground was shaken by the catastro-orc’s powerful arm, scattering sand and dust particles all around.

“Buhoo?”

As if by candlelight, the black-clad figures suddenly disappeared.

“Too late. I’m getting bored here.”

“Gee……!”

In an instant, Raidorl came up behind him and drove his sword into the boar-beastman’s neck. With a precise cut through the medulla oblongata, the hulking monster died easily.

“You’re not even close to being ready for this.Keep coming at me!”

“Bohaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

The remaining catastro-orc rushes towards Raidorl, who deliberately bends his fingertips and beckons to them.

The young swordsman belligerently bares his fangs and holds his sword in the air as the orcs swarm towards him, as if they want to crush him with their huge bodies.

“Curse sword fighting method 【Poison Dragon Tail Níðhöggr】!”

A black mist, as if kneaded by darkness and night, congeals on the iron sword in Raidorl’s hand.

Wrapped in a black miasma that seemed to contaminate even the core of his body just by touching it, Raidorl unleashed a full-body blow.

“Giaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The miasma released from the sword becomes a black whirlwind, blowing away the catastrophe orcs that were gathering. Their huge body, which is estimated to weigh 500 kilos, flies into the air like it was nothing.

“A……gu……gaaahh……!”

However, they are demons that are regarded as a disaster class. Most of them are still breathing, although they were bleeding from all over their bodies from the whirlwind of slashing blows.

The Catastro-Orcs looked up at Raidorl with intense anger as they fell to the ground and tried to raise their body with slow movements. Their fighting spirit has still not abated from their eyes. Raidorl whistled admiringly.

“Phew, you’re pretty sturdy, aren’t you? I’m impressed.”

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“Guuuuuhhh ……!”

“But……Can you stand up?”

“Gu……?”

One of the catastro-orc, which had been trying to raise its huge body while spurting blood from its entire body, suddenly became weak and collapsed.

His eyes widened in shock, and he saw the image of his comrades, who had also fallen to the ground and was foaming, his body trembling slightly.

“My cursed sword doesn’t end with these slices. It’s only from here on out that it really comes into its own.”

“Bu……h..i…….?”

The reddish-black skin of the catastro-orc, which had been hit by the black slash, turned purple. Blood erupted from its mouth, which had turned a poisonous purple.

This was the effect of the curse poison in the slash.

Originally, the orc race did not have strong magical resistance. The Catastro Orc, a mutant species, is no exception, and in front of Raidorl’s cursed swordplay, they are easy prey.

Now …… what about the rest?”

Raydor licks his lips sarcastically and glares at the catastro-org, which has escaped a slashing blow.

Only a few of them managed to escape from the curse poison, but their eyes were now filled with fear.

Their companions had been cut to pieces in front of their eyes, and were now suffering in agony from an unknown poison. It was a natural reaction.

The remaining catastro-org were backing away, looking for a chance to escape.

“Now, attack! Let’s take these pigs down!”

“「「「「「Oooooooo」」」」」”

However, they were unable to escape. The gates of the pioneer city of Raid were opened and the adventurers who had been holed up in the city rushed out.

Leading them was the guildmaster Zafis. He raised his huge war axe and smashed it vigorously into the catastro-orc.

Raidorl shrugged his shoulders as he saw Zafis, who was showing a fighting spirit unbefitting his age.

“Oi,oi,oi Guildmaster, you’re pushing yourself too hard. Think about how old you are.”

“Bupiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

On seeing enemy reinforcements, the catastro-orc turns its back and begins to flee.

Normally, this would have been a scene of rejoicing as the shelled prey emerged from itself, but most of the orcs had fallen by the cursed slash. Their momentum  had dropped to the bottom, and there was no way anyone would be able to stay and fight at this stage.

For the Catastro Orc, this battle is about attacking and unilaterally plundering the frontier cities. They are not prepared to be killed themselves. There is a difference in morale between them and the adventurers who are fighting to protect their homeland and their place in the world.

One after another, adventurers thrust their weapons at the fleeing catastro-orc. A series of desperate screams trickle into the frontier forest, and a huge body falls and shakes the ground.

〇　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　　　〇

Rewinding the time to 5 years ago.

Raidorl Zain, the second prince of the Kingdom of Zain, was banished from the royal capital and sent to a frontier city in the south of the kingdom.

Nominally, Raidorl was given the status of ‘lord’, but the eyes of the people of the pioneering city towards him were not very favourable.

Half of the glances directed at the thirteen-year-old prince were pity for the young prince, who had to live in a harsh frontier. The other half was contemptuous disdain, clearly pregnant with killing intent.

To begin with, the town, which at the time was a nameless frontier town, was not built with the aid of the Kingdom of Zain. It was built voluntarily by the Adventurers’ Guild, which made its living fighting demons, by recruiting volunteers.

The fact that a lord has now been sent from the kingdom to such a frontier city is like having their hard-polished jewels snatched. It was not something that could be accepted.

If it had not been a 13-year-old boy who became a lord, they might have planned to eliminate the lord by violent means, such as assassination.

The adventurers who built the pioneering city did not hide their malice towards Raidorl, and the young prince was forced to live a life of needle in a haystack.

Alienated by his older brother Prince Granard, abandoned by his trusted subjects and fiancée, he is exposed to the gaze of pity and malice in the outlying areas where he has drifted into exile.

After such a hellish fall, Raidorl crawled on the ground, weeping until his tears dried up and scratched at the ground until his fingernails peeled off.

But – the young prince did not stop there. While experiencing the lowest point of his life, Raidorl chose to endure the suffering and crawl up from the depths of hell.

“Guildmaster, teach me how to fight demons!”

With grief and despair in his heart, Raidorl stood up fiercely and on his two feet went to the guildmaster, Zafis Bartolomeo, and volunteered to be his apprentice.

“Heh,…… I thought you were a lord in name only, but you’ve got some guts, don’t you? Interesting.”

Zafis, whose face did not have as many wrinkles and grey hairs on his head then as it does now, was surprised by the young lord’s behaviour, but gladly agreed and taught Raidorl how to fight as an adventurer.

Originally, Zafis had some difficulty in dealing with the young prince who became his lord. Although he sympathises with the circumstances that led to him being sent to the frontier for unknown reasons, he is not amused that the royal family interferes more than necessary in the frontier cities. Nevertheless, it was also painful to see other adventurers harbour ill feelings towards the 13-year-old prince, so he felt he had to do something about it as soon as possible.

For Zafis, Raidorl’s suggestion was a no-brainer but he took the young lord to the guild’s training grounds, where he dared to beat him in the eyes of other adventurers and teach him how to fight so that he could be trained from the core.

Raidorl had originally learnt swordsmanship at the royal palace, but his potential was extremely high, as he had been chosen as the owner of the Holy Sword. Under the guidance of Zafis, his talent blossomed into a large flower.

In addition, although the Holy Sword was taken away by Granard, the blessing of the Dáinsleif dwells within him. At first he could not control its power without the shackles of the seal, but he gradually became able to use it to his advantage.

Now eighteen years old, Raidorl has completely grasped the power of the curse by the blessing of the Holy Sword, and has developed his own style of combat technique called 『Noroi ken tōhō』, in which he fights by cloaking his sword in the miasma of the curse. His skills have already surpassed those of his master Zafis, and he is the best swordsman in the pioneering city.

(Cursed sword fighting method)

The feelings of the people living in the pioneering city, including the adventurers, towards Raidorl have also changed. People began to look at him with respect and trust, as he was always at the forefront of the fight when demons attacked the city.

The name of the pioneer city of Raid was later given to the town. It was a sign of respect and affection for the young lord who was fighting for his life to protect the pioneer city.

〇　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　　〇

“Good grief,……you’re late, you almost cost my life!”

“Sorry about that. Sorry for keeping you waiting.”

After fighting off the Catastro Orc, Raidorl was sitting opposite Zafis in the Adventurers’ Guild. Tea and cakes for two are on the table.

Raidorl and Zafis are the only two people present. The other adventurers were working on recovering the remains of the dead catastro-orc and repairing the fences and trap traps on the outer walls of the town.

Catastro-orc are disaster-class demons that can easily destroy a town or two if they appear in packs as they did this time.

Since they are powerful demons, their materials are highly valuable and all parts of their bodies are traded at high prices. Its skin can be used to make armour, while its bones can be melted down and mixed with iron to make a harder, sharper alloy. The entrails are used to make medicines, and although the meat is not for human consumption, it was said to make cattle and sheep grow bigger and stronger when mixed with livestock feed.

Incidentally, the poison is gone from the Catastro Orc’s dead body, as Raidorl’s cursed sword only works on living opponents. There would be no problem in using it as material.

“It can’t be helped, can it? The one from Eidolus has been very persistent. That’s why I don’t like money-grubbing aristocrats who are rotten to the guts.”

Raidorl spits out a disgusted look and pours tea into his mouth in a resentful manner.

The reason Raidorl was away from the frontier city at the beginning of the Catastro Orc raid was that he was visiting Count Eidolus, the lord of the neighbouring town.

He was staying in the town of Idrus to discuss the ownership of a silver vein found on the boundary of his territory, but the greedy nobleman’s persistent insistence on his rights delayed his return.

Raidorl had returned to the town in a hurry after hearing of the catastro-org attack, which had led to a lacklustre discussion, and they had to make a number of concessions regarding mineral concessions.

“That was a tough one. But, well. Thank god, you’re back.”

Zafis picked up the teapot to thank Raidorl for his labour after he had finished his tea in one gulp. As he pours another cup, he switches the subject.

“That was a great fight you put up earlier. There is no one in the guild headquarters in the Empire who can fight like that. As a Mage Swordsman, you have no more rivals.”

“Heh..as a sword fighter, it sounds like you’re saying that i’m still not good?”

“Hmph, you’d still be no match for me in a swordfight. I’m not a guildmaster on the frontier for showmanship or drunkenness. Don’t you dare to take me for a fool, young man!”

When Zafis laughed, Raidorl showed a wry smile.

As his sword master and guardian in the pioneering city, Zafis is still unable to raise his head.

He is a royalty and a lord, so Radeor is superior to him in terms of position, but he can’t help it because he is the one who took the place of his parents and picked him up after he was abandoned by his brother and his country.

“But you didn’t get it, did you? It was more towards here, wasn’t it?”

“Apparently so. Though Count Eidolus was adamant that he wouldn’t accept it.”

The silver ore was found on the border with Count Idrus’s territory, but in the end, the rights were largely ceded to the other side by eight to two. The damage would not be small.

“It can’t be helped. If we hadn’t conceded that much, they wouldn’t have let me go home so easily.”

Count Eidolus must have been more pleased than anyone else at the Catastro Orc raid.

However royal the Raidorl may be, their influence in the southern part of the Kingdom of Zain is dominated by Eidorus, an old aristocrat. Even in an emergency, it is unacceptable for him to easily cut off the discussion and leave the table.

It was unavoidable for them to concede their rights in order to break off the discussion.

“Sorry. Wish we could have defended it all by ourselves……”

“It doesn’t matter. This is my territory. This is my home. No matter what I put off, it’s only natural that I should rush to defend it.”

To Zafis, who apologetically lowered his eyebrows, Raidorl replied while raising his teacup. He takes a sip of tea and smiles mischievously like a boy.

“Besides, I’m sure…..soon they will be crying foul, won’t they?”

“Mm? What do you mean?”

“That place is part of the frontier. It’s not a safe place.”

“Aa…… that’s what you mean.”

Hearing Raidorl’s reply, Zafis looks sympathetic. In Zafis’ mind, the image of a greedy count suffering heavy losses from an unexpected attack from a demon flashed through his mind.

A newly discovered vein of silver but the area is also a danger zone where many demons appear.

Thanks to the regular thinning out of the demons by adventurers from the pioneer cities, this has not become a major problem at the moment. However, carving out such a danger zone and mining the veins will be more difficult than Count Eidolus anticipated.

“Let’s pull the adventurers out of that area for a while. Let that greedy noble thin out the area.”

“Haha……how long can he hold out?”

Raidorl shook his shoulders and laughed.

As they both had predicted, Count Eidolus, which had begun to develop its silver mines, lost many workers and soldiers to repeated attacks by demons, and suffered enormous losses.

It was one month later that the Count asked Raidorl to defeat the demons on the condition that he would transfer a large portion of the rights to the silver mines.

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